Ashwaganda for adrenal support: a calming tonic that reduces anxiety and improves sleep

Overactive adrenals can leave you feeling like you’re constantly in “fight or flight” mode. First, your body releases high levels of stress chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol. To ensure you’re ready to defend yourself or run, these chemicals spike your blood sugar, as well as increasing heart rate, blood pressure, and insulin levels – making you feel anxious, stressed and wide awake at night.

Nature offers plenty of wonderful herbal remedies to support the adrenals. Herbal adaptogens such as ashwaganda and rhodiola are two of my favorite herbs for the adrenals. They gently calm your overactive system helping your body damp down your fight or flight response and reduce stress and anxiety.

Ashwaganda is often called “Indian Ginseng” and is widely used in Ayurvedic medicine to lower stress and stabilize thyroid hormones. It is a calming tonic that reduces anxiety, improves sleep, and combats inflammation.

Rhodiola is a another potent herbal adaptogen that helps your body reduce anxiety and irritability. At the same time, it boosts immune function, hormonal balance, and concentration.

In this online workshop, you will learn about 20 healing herbs and spices to help support and heal your thyroid, adrenals, menopause, weight, hair loss, cellulite, PCOS, hot flashes (and more).

Skullcap – used to treat conditions like panic attacks, anxiety and also helps to promote better quality sleep.

Chamomile is well known for its calming properties. After people drink chamomile tea their levels of glycine increase. Glycine is a nerve relaxant with mild sedative properties – all things that can help you to de-stress. Chamomile also has anti-spasmodic properties that help to relieve menstrual cramps in women. It also contains a potent flavonoid called apigenin, a mild tranquilizer that can help benefit sleep onset and sleep quality.

Lavender made into a tea is an effective tonic for jittery nerves because it encourages a calmer state of mind. Research comparing the use of lavender to (synthetic) benzodiazepine medication for anxiety has found it provides equal benefit, minus all the side effects.

You will also learn 5 simple and delicious herbal recipes to restore and rebalance your hormones

Watch this video snippet to get a taste of some of what Magdalena will be covering in the online herbal workshop. One thing she’ll be making is the wonderful and nourishing Ashwaganda Latte for adrenal support.

And here is the recipe for the Ashwaganda Latte

Author: Magdalena Wszelaki

Ingredients

1 cup of milk (almond or hazelnut works well, if using coconut milk, I would suggest ½ cup coconut milk and ½ cup water)

1 teaspoon ashwagandha powder

½ teaspoon cinnamon powder

½ teaspoon maple syrup or honey

How To Make

Warm the milk, then add the powdered spices and maple syrup or honey

Stir well, using the whisk to blend, adjusting for sweetness if necessary

Pour into a nice cup and drink an hour before bed

Equipment: Medium saucepan, whisk, strainer

You’ll also learn how to avoid common chemicals found in everyday skincare, personal care and house cleaning products that disrupt your hormones, and discover which herbs are best for your individual needs.

You may remember Magdalena from the Anxiety Summit and her wonderful interviews on eating for hormone balance! She is now taking hormone balance to the next level by teaching us how to use herbs. This wonderful workshop is a taste of what’s to come in her upcoming longer program so stay tuned for more on that!

Reader Interactions

Comments

Oh my Trudy I’ve just been looking at this herb. I’ve managed to come down with Bells Palsy on BOTH sides of my face and Lymes Disease and have been bedridden the last month. I’m starting a new protocol (including this herb) by Stephan Buhner and have noticed a few improvements but ohhh it’s so slow.
Thanks for all you do… 😉
Rita
(Yes with 4 boys, 3 with autism and mom with dementia, )

Rita
I am so sorry to hear this – you poor thing. If you’re working with someone using Stephan Buhner’s protocols it sound like you are in good hands. Dr. Jay Davidson is a wonderful Lyme disease resource who offers phone consultations if needed.

And yes the herbs are much slower than the amino acids but slow and steady improvements are ok too.

Is the Bell’s Palsy related to the Lyme disease? I don’t know much about Bell’s Palsy but found this for you “Physical therapies including tailored facial exercises, acupuncture to affected muscles, massage, thermotherapy and electrical stimulation have been used to hasten recovery.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5478391/

Thank you Trudy (for always remembering me)
I don’t have a doctor using Stephans protocol but read the books and put together a protocol based on his. So far it’s working as I am doing much better than I was…still a ways to go.
Tryptophan and Inositol are two I’m taking they work for brain inflammation..imagine that!?

And yes I’m trying to get a Physiotherapist… and doing some facial massage myself. Did some cold lazer therapy (Until I got vertigo and had to stop driving) and Stephan recommends stephania herb..which i have coming. Bells palsy is common with Lymes I’ve learned.
Right now I have pain in my face, and a few twitches so hoping that’s a good sign.
Thank you Trudy.
Rita 🙂

Thanks again for all your fantastic info.
I have taken Ashwagandha for quite some time, not sure there is much effect on my anxiety but it helps amazingly with my achilles tendonitis so it is a defininte keeper.

I tried Rhodiola, but one of its side effects is that it can lower your blood pressure. That obviously happened in me and as I already have very low blood pressure, it made me quite dizzy so I had to stop taking it.

One new herb I have started recently is Holy Basil, also called Tulsi, (Ocimum tenuiflorum). It has a very subtle calming effect. Not huge, but definitely an effect and there are not many things that seem to any any effect on my anxiety so I was really pleased that this did. I have it as a tea.

Natalie
Thanks for the feedback and Holy Basil resources – it’s another favorite of mine. I’ve not had anyone report dizziness from rhodiola but since we are all biochemically unique we must simply find what works for us

I love Ashwaganda, too. It is, however, slightly heating so may not be comfortable at all times for all people due to that property (menopause, as an example). I sometimes use Shatavari, which can accomplish the same thing, but has cooling properties from an Ayurvedic perspective.

I drilled into this a bit at banyanbotanicals.com, to learn more about other options, which is how I landed on Shatavari. It works pretty well. Depending on what my body is up to, I’ll alternate as appropriate.

“Shatavari is considered the “queen of herbs” in Ayurvedic medicine, where it is beloved as a rejuvenating tonic for women. It is nourishing and calming as well as hormonally balancing, and is used for irritability and many hormonal imbalances affecting the mood.”

I’ve read that rhodiola lowers stress hormones and has both antianxiety and antidepressant benefits. Additional information with the supplement indicated side effects could include insomnia, anxiety, agitation, headaches. Do you have recommendations of how to take to avoid these potential side effects? It is a 100 mg supplement.

I’m wondering if you have recommendations for morning-time and evening-time adrenal supplements. I’ve been having chronic insomnia for 4 months. While I am improving, I feel my adrenals could use some extra support.